“But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.”

— Mark 10:14

“Haiti faces worst food insecurity crisis since 2001”

“Twenty-six children died in the mountainside village of Baie D’Orange in a a span of a month from severe malnutrition.” (Miami Herald, Feb 2016)

Headline News:  The press now acknowledges that there is a food crisis in Haiti and it is being reported in the States and elsewhere. But will it help those who so desperately need it?

 

There are many faces of hunger and starvation in Haiti. They are everywhere you look, from the mountains…

 

…to the city dumps of Port-au-Prince,

 

to the children being fed Bon Bon Tè (mud cookies) to stave off hunger pangs.

 

Widespread malnutrition throughout the country has pushed this food crisis beyond the breaking point. Hundreds of children are dying every day!

 

Haiti has experienced a food crisis on and off for the last 15 years. The year 2001 was considered one of the worst years. Then in 2008, there was an International Food Crisis which saw food riots in Haiti come to a political crisis. So what makes this year so much worse?

 

There probably isn’t one answer to this very complex issue: Perhaps it was the slow demise of farming and small agricultural businesses for local food growers, causing an extreme dependency on foreign imports and food aid that slowly destroyed the local farm production, that started tipping the wheelbarrow.

 

Then there is the 30 percent decline of the economy in the last 40 years. Then add on top of that the destruction of the environment in Haiti over the last 50 years, and to top it all off,  the weather phenomenon called El Niño, with its lack of rain for the past four growing seasons, and the wheelbarrow has toppled. You have the Haiti of today! Desolate!

 

How do you grow crops when the soil is either full of rocks…

 

…or nothing but sand?

 

The children are starving to death and people can no longer afford main food sources like spaghetti, rice and beans. The number of Haitians who are in dire need of food has doubled in the last six months.

Here is how one Haitian woman described the problem (as she sees it). Her name is Anna and she is a food vendor at a local street market:

Talking about another vendor—now they want $2.00 a piece for Breadfruit.

 

The cost for a gallon of cooking oil used to be…

 

Now for a tiny jar…

 

On the price of spaghetti, another food staple…

 

And now…

 

Haiti has always been in some sort of political upheaval but it is now facing a power vacuum after its president left office recently without an elected successor. So some may ponder the old days…

 

In a country where all the wealth is held by five percent of the population, there is no middle class, and 95 percent of the country lives far below the poverty level.

 

We are seeing a dramatic rise in severe malnutrition cases which one would expect in a country where 55 percent of Haitians live on less than $1.25 a day and there is an 85 percent unemployment rate.

 

The rise in food prices in Haiti is a death sentence to 95 percent of the population that is poor, because food spending represents more than 50 percent of a family’s budget, and more than 50 percent of the family’s basic staple food is imported, and no longer affordable. So a lot of Haiti’s children are dying every day.

 

“An increasing number of Haitians are at risk of being driven deeper into poverty and hunger as Haiti faces its worst food crisis in 15 years, the United Nations World Food Program said…” (Miami Herald, Feb 2016). Haiti’s children are the most vulnerable. Today, there are 3.8 million children that are under the age of 15, and at this rate, Haiti will lose a whole generation of its people.

 

Love A Child is at the forefront of this crisis…

Each month, Love A Child shares food with 68 organizations. These organizations all need help in feeding their children. This food is donated by Feed My Starving Children, and our partners sponsor the food to come from the States. Without this food distribution, thousands more children would be starving to death.

 

We recently visited a village that was in an emergency food crisis to feed children who haven’t eaten in several days, the people were in a panic.

 

We reach out to as many people that we can with the food we receive every month. There are just more and more children and families in desperate need.

 

For each container of food, Love A Child spends $10,000 in transportation fees. You might say this is a lot of money, but really it’s a small price to pay for 270,000 meals to feed starving children. Thank you, partners, for helping to pay the cost of transport for the food from the States to Haiti, and then through customs. We could not feed all these needy children without your support. This is just “some” of the fruit of your sacrificial giving!

 

Even when we have dished out all the food we cooked, children dive in to scrape out the bottom of the pot for one last morsel…

 

Haiti is a true example of the consequences that await any developing country that lose their food self-sufficiency. Here in Haiti, Love A Child is developing projects that will help Haitians to help themselves and their neighbors too. One project is the Agricultural Training Center where they learn improved farming methods to better use their limited resources.

 

Poul Mirak is a unique social enterprise model that is established as a project for gaining self-sustainability and dignity through enterprise.

 

Gwo Maché Mirak (The Marketplace) has created many jobs in support of about 600 businesses. Having jobs and the ability to feed their families will restore dignity among the suffering Haitian people.

 

These are just some of the projects that are helping Haitians to farm their land again, start a business, learn new skills and work to better support their families and their community. Whether it is a small vegetable plot next to their home or a few acres to raise marketable goods from chickens and eggs to fruits and vegetables, Love A Child is finding a way to lift Haitians out of abject poverty. Here is some of the bounty grown by the first graduating class of the Agricultural Training Center.

Please prayerfully consider becoming a partner,
as the need is far greater today than ever before.
Your support will save a life!

“Every gift counts and no gift is too small.” Your gift of $20, $50 or any amount would provide hot nourishing meals for hungry children. The “widows mite” is precious in the eyes of Jesus. Please, hear the “cry of the poor,” and “do something” today. When we give food to a hungry person, we are doing it unto Jesus himself. If you would like to help Love A Child with feeding as many starving children as we can reach, please call our office at 239-210-6107 and let a staff member know that you want to help. OR please donate now.

God bless you,

Sherry